In recent decades, China has emerged as the world's biggest dam builder, both at home and abroad. But developments in the past year suggest that 2017 could be a year of comparative health and happiness for China's rivers.

Chinese activist -- and July River Guardian -- Wang Yong Chen is soft-spoken and unassuming. So unassuming, in fact, that you might never guess she's responsible for the first environmental victory in modern China.

Chinese leaders are realizing what an ecological gem they have in the free-flowing Nu River, and now they’re taking steps to protect it. We took a trip down the river to see what a different development path could look like for the region.